Extreme Commanders

Trump administration can't require states to cooperate with ICE to get transportation funding, judge says

A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Trump administration from requiring almost two dozen mostly Democratic states to cooperate with federal immigration authorities in order to receive billions in transportation funding.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned in April his department may cut off grants to any recipients that fail to "cooperate generally with Federal authorities in the enforcement of Federal law" — part of a wider gambit to push back against "sanctuary" jurisdictions.

A group of 20 states sued, arguing the administration doesn't have the legal authority to tie transportation dollars — which states rely on for upkeep of roads, airports and other infrastructure — to immigration enforcement.

U.S. District Judge John McConnell sided with the 20 plaintiff states on Thursday, issuing a preliminary injunction that barred the government from enforcing the new immigration rules for "the States and their governmental subdivisions" while the lawsuit works its way through court.

The policy, McConnell wrote, "is arbitrary and capricious in its scope and lacks specificity in how the States are to cooperate on immigration enforcement in exchange for Congressionally appropriated transportation dollars — grant money that the States rely on to keep their residents safely and efficiently on the road, in the sky, and on the rails."

The Rhode Island judge added that "Congress did not authorize or grant authority to the Secretary of Transportation to impose immigration enforcement conditions on federal dollars specifically appropriated for transportation purposes."

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